Private chateaux invitations

Private chateaux invitations enable privileged access to famous French chateaux.

Discerning individuals and small, exclusive groups will receive a tailored personal invitation to lunch, dine or for tea with the aristocratic owners of some of France’s most historic and luxurious castles, in rooms which are never open to the general public. As private guests, you will be transported into a world which most only get a glimpse of through film and television.

Countess Connections VIP guests will benefit from Count & Countess de Vanssay’s long-standing relationships with the owners of over 10 of France’s finest historic chateaux. Therefore these unique invitations can range anywhere from a one day helicopter or luxury chauffeured motorcar transfer to one single Castle, to multiday bespoke itinerary, combining various chateaux, according to the owners diaries.

Countess Connections guests enjoy a pre-tour briefing over drinks, to hear about the highlights of the chateau or chateaux they will be seeing as well as to ask any questions they might have in terms of preparing for the next days’ visit, during which they will:

- Marvel at the beautiful, diverse and untouched French countryside, from vineyards to bucolic rolling hills, wild rivers, and hunting forests, interspersed with picturesque villages appearing to rise out of a movie set.

- Enjoy not only the grand estates, but the rare opportunity to meet and spend time with the often colorful owners thereof. Countess Connections believe it is in fact the people “behind the scene”, rather than the houses on their own, that offer the greatest insight into the real world of the French aristocracy and landed gentry.

- Learn from the stories recounted by their hosts, whose families have resided in their chateaux for hundreds of years: what life in France was like over the past centuries, through peace and in wartime, the rise and fall of various political systems, fashions and trends, and how they envisage the present and the future of their lifestyle and of France in general.

- Discover the true “art de vivre” à la française.

- Admire parts of the house and art collections not normally accessible to the public.

- Dine in private chateaux where traditional French cuisine is still served on fine linens, porcelain and crystal with all the family silver.

- Sleep in still privately owned elegant chateaux and the only real palace in Paris, the Bristol.

Why not extend such a trip beyond France to meet the owners of a grand historic house in Britain, or other countries in Europe …

Contact Countess Connections to enquire which visits can be arranged for you…